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10 January 2005
LONDON – The commander of British forces on Gibraltar, found dead in his swimming pool at the weekend, appears to have committed suicide after being recalled pending an investigation into paedophilia offences, it was reported.
The British daily The Sun reported Commodore David White, found dead on Saturday, was the subject of a Ministry of Defence (MoD) police investigation and had been relieved of his duties on Friday.
A defence ministry spokesman denied that White had been stripped of his post.
“I can confirm that he had been asked to return to the UK and he was subject to an MoD police investigation,” the spokesman said.
“He wasn’t being replaced, he wasn’t stripped of his command,” he said, without giving further information.
“Unfortunately I can’t go into that sort of detail,” he said.
The spokesman also refused to confirm the suicide theory saying, “It’s up to the coroner to confirm the cause of his death.”
Chief Inspector Eddie Yome of the Royal Gibraltar Police said Saturday: “We don’t suspect any foul play at this stage.
“Obviously, it was not a natural death but we must wait for results of the post mortem.”
The Sun reported that detectives had been investigating White for several months “for having hundreds of indecent images of children”.
An anonymous navy source told the paper: “Since everyone is innocent until proven guilty, we tried to give Commodore White the benefit of the doubt.
“But with more information from the police last week, his position was no longer tenable.
“It is tragic – he appears to have decided to take his own life – but not surprising.”
White’s body was found by his military assistant in the pool at his home on Saturday.
White, 50, had commanded British forces on the rocky Mediterranean outcrop since May 2004.
Gibraltar, a mere six square kilometres (2.5 square miles) of rock on Spain’s southern tip facing Morocco, was ceded to the British by Spain in 1713.
Two years ago the population there voted overwhelmingly against ending British rule.
[Copyright Expatica]
Subject: Spanish news